System and method for positioning an application window based on usage context for dual screen display device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9524139-B2
Application number	US-201314101612-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 10, 2013
Priority date	Oct 29, 2013
Publication date	Dec 20, 2016
Grant date	Dec 20, 2016

Abstract

An information handling system includes a primary integrated display device and a second integrated display device attached via a hinge and a processor. The processor determines a first relative orientation of the primary integrated display device to the second integrated display device from orientation sensors. The processor further determines a working software application context by detecting at least a first software application running on the information handling system wherein the working software application context further includes an operating state rank of the first software application relative to other software applications.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An information handling system comprising:
a primary integrated display device housing and a second integrated display device housing attached via a hinge;
a processor to determine a first relative orientation of the primary integrated display device housing to the second integrated display device housing from a plurality of orientation sensors;
the processor to determine a working software application context by detecting at least a first software application running on the information handling system wherein the working software application context further includes an operating state rank of the first software application relative to other software applications; and
an application window locator system for determining a location of a software application display window for a display device and selecting between the primary integrated display device housing and the second integrated display device housing based on the first relative orientation and the operating state rank,
wherein the first relative orientation is selected from a plurality of orientation modes determined from hinged relative angle positions of the primary integrated display device housing to the second relative display device housing.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first relative orientation further is determined from a hinge azimuth orientation.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein a software application with a higher operating state rank is located on the display on the primary integrated display device housing and the primary integrated display device housing and the secondary integrated display device housing are switchable as to which integrated display device housing is designated as primary.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
the primary integrated display device housing further includes an integrated camera;
the working software application context represents the first software application is an active videoconference application; and
the application window locator system locates the first software application on the display device on the primary integrated display device housing and the next ranked software application on the second integrated display device housing.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein application window locator system further determines a location for a virtual tool for use with the first software application.

6. The system of claim 5 , further comprising:
the processor determines that the first relative orientation is viewed in portrait page orientation relative to a viewer location;
the processor determines that the first software application requests input from the virtual tool wherein the virtual tool is a virtual keyboard; and
the application window locator system locating the virtual keyboard under the first software application display window on the display device on the primary integrated display device housing.

7. The system of claim 5 , further comprising:
the processor determines that the first relative orientation is viewed in landscape page orientation relative to a viewer location;
the processor determines that the working software application context for the first software application requests input from the virtual tool wherein the virtual tool is a virtual keyboard;
the application window locator system locating the virtual keyboard on the display on the second integrated display device housing; and
the application window locator system locating the first software application display window on the display on the primary integrated display device housing.

8. A computer-implemented method of locating software application display windows for an information handling system having a first integrated display device housing connectably hinged to a second integrated display device housing, comprising:
determining, via a processor executing instructions, a first relative orientation of the first integrated display device housing to the second integrated display device housing from a plurality of orientation sensors;
determining a working software application context by detecting at least one software application running on the information handling system wherein the working software application context further includes an operating state rank of the first software application relative to other software applications; and
determining the location of a software application display window and a virtual tool for the first software application on a display device and selecting between location on the primary integrated display device housing and the second integrated display device housing based on the first relative orientation and the operating state rank,
wherein the first relative orientation is selected from a plurality of orientation modes including at least a laptop mode, a book mode, and a double tablet mode.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein first relative orientation is determined from hinged relative angle positions of the first integrated display device housing to the second integrated display device housing and from a hinge azimuth orientation.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
detecting a viewer location based on the orientation mode.

11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
detecting a viewer location via a camera integrated in the information handling system.

12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
elevating the operating state rank of the first software application when the first software application requests input via a virtual tool; and
locating the virtual tool on the first or second integrated display device that is determined to be closer to the detected viewer location.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
locating the software application display window for the first software application on the display device on the first or second integrated display device housings determined to be further from the detected viewer location.

14. The method of claim 8 , wherein the first integrated display device housing includes an integrated camera, further comprising:
determining that the working software application context includes a second software application that is an active videoconference application;
elevating a second software application operating state rank ahead of the first software application operating state rank; and
locating the software application display window for the second software application on the display device on the first integrated display device housing.

15. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
determining that the working software application context includes a first software application that is active and a second software application that is loading data;
elevating the first software application operating state rank above a second software application operating state rank to determine on the display device on which integrated display device housing to locate the software application display windows for the first software application and second software application.

16. An information handling system comprising:
a primary integrated display device housing and a second integrated display device housing attached via a hinge;
a processor to determine a first relative orientation of the primary integrated display device housing to the second integrated display device housing from a plurality of orientation sensors;
the processor to determine an operating state rank of a first software application running on the information handling system relative to an operating state rank of other software applications; and
an application window

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Aurongzeb Deeder M
• Welker Mark L
• Sanuallah Abu S
• Cox Claude L
• Kozlowski Joseph
• Abullarade Jorge A
• Graf Knut
• Stufflebeam Kenneth W

Classifications

• Y02B60/1289

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• G06F1/3231

  Monitoring the presence, absence or movement of users · CPC title

• G06F3/1446 Primary

  display composed of modules, e.g. video walls · CPC title

• G06F3/0487

  using specific features provided by the input device, e.g. functions controlled by the rotation of a mouse with dual sensing arrangements, or of the nature of the input device, e.g. tap gestures based on pressure sensed by a digitiser · CPC title

• G06F3/013

  Eye tracking input arrangements (G06F3/015 takes precedence) · CPC title